E-reputation, or e-notoriety, provides information about a person or a brand, over which they have no complete control. This digital identity can influence opinions either favorably or unfavorably.
It can make or break reputations very quickly. Why is this? This is due to e-reputation, which is built up from an incessant flow of information on the Internet, some of which we don’t even know about.
Thanks to this guide, you will discover how to take care of your image and reputation. Carry on reading and improve your overall digital marketing strategy !
What is e-reputation?
When shopping, consumers turn first to search engines and social networks for information. Nearly 9 out of 10 Internet users consult online reviews before making a purchase.
Today, this has become a reflex.
E-reputation is the image conveyed and/or experienced by your company, brand, product or service on the Internet. It is defined by a wide range of stakeholders: customers, partners, influencers, employees, etc., who share their opinions online about the experience they have had.
All their opinions contribute to building your brand image. They can increase your reputation and the trust index of those who discover your offers, or conversely, have a negative impact on them.
With these uses, monitoring your online reputation has become essential. It must be built up and worked on to ensure your company’s longevity.
Who are the players in your e-reputation?
When it comes to influencing the e-reputation of your business in one direction or another, there are many players involved. Today, it’s vital to be aware of them by carrying out an audit, and to keep a constant and strategic watch to avoid crises and bad buzz.
Here, we’ll distinguish 5 players who can influence your reputation on the Internet: the company and its employees, web surfers, influencers, the media and, finally, the competition.
Employees
According to a 2012 study by the Université Libre de Bruxelles, 84% of corporate crises are linked to an internal problem. It could be selling a faulty product, having dubious or even misleading communications, disseminating information that shouldn’t be disseminated, or demonstrating poor organization. To keep its e-reputation intact, the company must start by being beyond reproach.
A company’s employees are also capable of causing an earthquake if they are not properly sensitized to the use of social media in relation to their work. Real controversy can erupt following an unfortunate publication or the dissemination of confidential information, with repercussions for the company’s sales.
The issue of benevolence in the workplace is now paramount to ensure the well-being of employees and guarantee a healthy, productive working environment. It is essential to pay particular attention to this dimension, as inappropriate treatment or harassment situations can have harmful consequences on the company’s perception.
It is crucial to be exemplary in this area, by introducing preventive measures and reacting quickly to problems. Indeed, employees now have the opportunity to share their experiences on platforms such as LinkedIn or specialized sites such as Glassdoor. These testimonials can spread rapidly and influence the choices of future talent looking to join an organization.
A poor perception of the working environment can not only damage a company’s image, but also its attractiveness as an employer, and drive away the best talent, in order to remain attractive on the job market.
Internet users
They obviously play a decisive role in a company’s e-reputation. Whether through social networking, Google reviews, digital word-of-mouth, information sharing, etc.,
surfers of all stripes have gradually become the masters of the game when it comes to an establishment’s popularity. With a smartphone in their pocket and a few tweets, they can create a buzz or a controversy in a matter of seconds. That’s why it’s so important to keep a constant watch on your users!
When you consider that 78% of people trust the opinions of strangers on the Internet (Nielsen study) and that 25% of users say they are capable of boycotting a brand on RS (Ifop survey), you understand that you need to pay close attention to them.
Influencers
Just as a pack of wolves has its dominant member, humanity has its influencers. Very present on RS (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), on blogs and on Youtube, influencers mainly act on sectors that make people dream, such as High Tech, fashion, travel, food, etc.
Our increasingly connected world has given these people considerable influence, which no company should ignore.
Sometimes provocateurs or trend-setters, influencers can bring in hundreds, even thousands of new sales with a simple product placement. But they can also advise their community not to buy from you if they’re not satisfied. You’ll need to learn how best to manage this new factor and integrate it into your marketing strategy to keep your e-reputation intact or improve it.
Media
They can also influence your online reputation. Their surveys and articles can easily find their way into the top results on search engines. Thanks to their potentially large audience, they are often the instigators of a company crisis.
Competition
Last but not least, your competitors are another factor that can undermine your popularity on the web. It’s not uncommon for them to try to destroy your e-reputation by posting false comments on Google, criticisms on forums, mean-spirited comments on social media, launching outrageous and unfounded rumors. Or attacking your best products with a defamatory tone so that no one wants to buy them.
False information about your company can drastically damage your business.
This horrible competition is omnipresent in the hotel, restaurant, craft and trade sectors in general. It’s important to guard against this threat if you don’t want to see your company tarnished for no good reason.
Search engines, focus on Google!
When you do an online search for information about a business, you’re bound to use a search engine. Google in particular, with 91.5% of the market. Once you’ve typed the company’s name on the keyboard, you’ll come across different sites, with results sorted by page. The American giant always manages to give you the ten results it finds most interesting in relation to your query.
The reason it works this way is to provide its users with a fast, efficient response. It also knows that the following pages are much less visited by users than the first…
In this sense, it’s a key vector of visibility. With this in mind, it’s worth noting that the Silicon Valley giant doesn’t focus on the most recent content, but on the best referenced content.
If, for example, a company has been the subject of a major controversy in the past, it will not be forgotten, and may even display articles about this crisis on its front page. Even if the controversy is several years old! So it’s important to ensure that the results on your front page are positive.
To this end, it’s advisable to regularly create content that’s properly referenced, in order to bury the less glowing ones. You’ll then benefit from this positive vector.
You may have noticed that Google also allows users to leave a comment on a company when it decides to use the “Google My Business” tool. While this tool is a great opportunity for all companies to shine on the Internet, it is also capable of creating bad buzz in no time at all. Users’ opinions have a significant influence on their decision-making. In other words, if they’re good, you’ve hit the jackpot, but if they’re not…
The risks of not controlling your e-reputation
A company’s exposure on the Web is both a sine qua non for its success and expansion, and a constant danger if it fails to control its e-reputation. If a company neglects its e-reputation on the Internet for too long, the consequences can be dramatic. It’s not uncommon for companies to go out of business, or for brands to be boycotted as a result of defamatory remarks or a slew of hostile consumer comments. It happens fast.
Without giving you time to say “click”, thousands of people can share an article criticizing a brand’s ethics. That’s why, as we said in the introduction, no company in the world can afford to neglect its reputation, not even Amazon or Apple.
How do you measure your e-reputation?
Let’s take a look at how and which KPIs to track to measure your e-reputation! To do this, 2 elements are of the utmost importance :
- Which channel(s) are you going to monitor?
- The KPIs you’re going to use to monitor the channel you’ve chosen.
It’s not a question of monitoring every single mention of your company on the entire web, but rather of focusing on one or two points that are most important to you. For example, if you communicate a lot on social networks, it may be relevant to follow them. You can also choose to follow Google’s suggestions, what people are saying about you in forums, and so on.
Finally, once you’ve identified the channel(s), you’ll need to determine the most appropriate KPIs
These could be the number of mentions of your brand on social networks, the number of negative keywords (you’ll have identified them beforehand) your brand is positioned on search engine results. Or your average customer review rating on Google My Business or other platforms, etc.
How do you clean up your e-reputation?
There’s no miracle solution to cleaning up your e-reputation, but we’re going to give you 2 useful and proven techniques.
First of all, you need to practice what’s known as “curing”. Curing consists of requesting the removal and deletion of the content that’s causing you harm. While this concept is best suited to individuals, it can also be used by brands. Have you been the victim of a hostile notice? If it doesn’t comply with the rules of the platform where it was posted, you can ask for it to be removed.
If your curing attempt fails, don’t give up hope. You’ll be able to flood your site. Flooding simply means publishing a large quantity of content with high added value. Numerous positive resources relevant to your clientele will simply relegate the negative content further down the page, to the point where it ends up in Google’s meanders, where no one will find it.
How can you protect your e-reputation?
First of all, you need to know that the law protects your digital identity. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes a paragraph on reputation, which also applies to e-reputation. According to Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. […] ”
This allows you to protect your e-reputation when you are the victim of unjustified actions.
To protect it, you’ll need to keep a constant watch on the Internet. This way, you’ll know everything that’s being said about your company and be able to anticipate any crises that may arise. And don’t forget to work on your social networking presence: by being active and responding to negative comments about yourself, you’ll avoid the worst. Finally, as we’ve just said, the most important thing is to react and respond. This will lessen the negative impact and prevent the fire from spreading. Above all, don’t delete your negative reviews.
Fake reviews (how to react, what to do?)
More and more companies are offering to publish fake reviews, whether on Google or on online review platforms, to improve your e-reputation and destroy that of your competitors. These companies are known as “click farms”, offering to buy Google reviews to boost your visibility. If you come under attack from these counterfeiters, you need to counter-attack immediately to limit the damage. Even if some Internet users are aware of the problem, many others are likely to fall for the trap and not buy your products after reading them.
How to counter-attack? The first thing to do is to report any fake content to the site owners. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult for moderators to do an effective job on this, and they can stay. It’s unfair, but at the moment it’s very difficult to do anything about it. The growth of click-farm sites is enormous, and while you’ll be fighting for years in court to close one, dozens of other sites will have been created. What can you do about it?
As with negative content, the best thing to do is to bury it with real positive comments. But collecting them can be an arduous and time-consuming task. Fortunately, there is a solution to help you. Customer review management companies can collect as many reviews as possible on your behalf, and systematically flag up false reviews to keep your e-reputation on track and boost your brands.
How to choose an e-reputation agency?
A multitude of agencies are now on the market to offer you their services and expertise. Not all of them are equal, but it’s sometimes difficult to assess what’s important when you’re not a specialist. Here are a few questions to help you make the right choice for your needs:
Is the solution provided by the agency designed to be effective over the long term? Does the agency offer you support throughout your collaboration? What type of support is sold?
Does the agency have the appropriate resources to support you and meet your specific needs (relevant resources, software suited to your organization etc.)?
Will his knowledge be shared with you via training sessions? Will it be applied in a customized way to suit your needs?
Is the agency capable of managing the entire customer review value chain, from collection to response? Has the agency shown you how the strategy implemented with your company will impact your overall rating?
Can the agency have a concrete impact on your local SEO? If so, how do they intend to prove it?
PIUP, the trusted partner for a positive long-term e-reputation
As you can see, managing your e-reputation is no easy task. At PIUP, our e-reputation experts are here to make your web visibility the main driver of your digital growth.